2019 Summer 53 Tyre Braking Shootout

Test Summary

Wet Braking

▲Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3: 28.7 M▼Star-Performer TNG UHP1: 39.4 M

Dry Braking

▲Michelin Pilot Sport 4: 34.2 M▼Tyfoon Successor 5: 39.1 M

Every year Auto Bild test over fifty tyres in wet and dry braking testing to decide which twenty tyres make it through to the full summer tyre test. In 2019 they have tested 53 patterns, using the popular 225/45 R17 summer touring tyre size.

When compared to the 2018 version of the test, the gap between the best and worse tyres on test is actually smaller! The best wet braking tyre, the new Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3, stopped the car in 28.7 meters from 80 kph (50 mph), and the worse tyre on test, the budget Star Performer TNG UHP1 in 39.4 meters, a difference of 10.6 meters. While that's smaller than the 17.6 meters separating the best and worst in 2018, it's still the difference between stopping safely and a crash at over 40 kph (25 mph) on the cheaper tyre.

Even from the higher speed of 100 kph (62 mph) the gap in dry braking is always closer, but there was still a 4.9 meter difference between the best (Michelin Pilot Sport 4) and the worst (Tyfoon Successor 5), which could be the option of stopping safely, or another big accident.

Below is the braking details of all 54 tyres tested. Be sure to visit Tyre Reviews in the coming weeks for the full tyre test which covers dry and wet handling, aquaplaning, noise, comfort and fuel use of the top twenty tyres.